It's a Wonderful Life
by Caralynne
Summary: "God, I wish freaking Tori Vega just didn't exist anymore!" Fortunately for Jade, she's about to realize exactly what such a wish would entail. Be careful what you wish for...


**I'm alive! Well, I'm back in the fandom, at least. I know it's been a while – to be honest, I went abroad with no internet all spring, and then I kind of lost my inspiration for writing Beck and Jade for a while after seeing some of the latest episodes. I'll probably still update Who Said I Stopped later on (promise!), but for now, here's a new idea that popped into my head that I finally feel like putting onto paper.**

**I'm going to try to finish this before I go back to school in the fall. At the moment, I'm at home recovering from a torn ACL, so I have a lot of time on my hands and will try to update consistently.**

**The first chapter is set right after the Platinum Music Awards. To be honest, I had so many mixed feelings about that episode. On the one hand, I was really happy to see Tori turn Beck down – I've always liked Tori, and she finally learned from the "Daniel" incident – but on the other hand, I felt bad for Jade, and annoyed at Beck. Yes, he's a free agent, but honestly, he had no interest in Tori until she started acting…well, like Jade. Boy's got some psychological issues. But whatever.**

**Anyway – hope you all enjoy this! Obviously this is the first chapter, so it's a little short, but they'll be much longer later on.**

**Disclaimer: I don't own Victorious, or any of the characters. The inspiration for this story was, obviously, the classic movie **_**It's a Wonderful Life.**_

The cool wind brushed against Jade's back as she slipped past the screen door and into her hallway, narrowly dodging the table as she shrugged off her jacket. The house was dark almost pitch-black, but she didn't mind; actually, she kind of liked it that way, because then she didn't have to see the hideous clothes she was still wearing reflected in the hallway mirror. Behind her, the moonlight filtered through the screen door, making a spidery pattern against the wooden floor.

Taking the stairs two at a time, Jade made her way to her room. Her footsteps echoed loudly against the empty hallway, but she didn't particularly care if she woke her father and stepmother, who—surprise!—hadn't even bothered to come to see her perform at the Platinum Music Awards. No, by the looks of it, they'd actually gone to bed early, probably without even turning on the television to watch the show. Although, honestly there hadn't been much of a show for them to watch anyway, because in a sudden moment of blindness, Jade had actually given up her spot to _Tori Vega_, relinquishing her own chance at music fame. In a twisted way, she was kind of glad that they hadn't watched, because now she would avoid all sorts of awkward questions tomorrow.

Just thinking about the awards made Jade angry, and she sat heavily on her bed, still somewhat at a loss to explain what had happened. The night had seemingly started off well; she'd even invited Cat to help her get ready (although _acquiesced_ might be a better word than invited, considering that Cat had practically been begging to come the moment she found out that Jade would be taking Tori's place). Inviting Cat, however, had apparently been the smartest thing she'd done all night, considering what Jade had seen through Cat's webcam.

Beck had tried to kiss Tori. _Beck_ had tried to kiss _Tori_, and _Tori_ had refused. Not the other way around. No matter what, Jade would always remember that: Beck had been the person to make the first move, and Tori, for whatever reason, had rejected him.

Jade couldn't pretend it hadn't hurt, seeing the two of them on the couch, with Beck leaning in to kiss one of Jade's least favorite people. After all of the times she'd accused Beck of having a thing for Tori, and all of the times he'd denied it, he had still gone for Tori barely a month after he'd broken up with Jade. And not only that, but he'd resorted to insulting Jade when Tori had rejected his advances. It wasn't just that he had ratted out Jade for being mean to Tori—he would have done that even before they'd broken up. No, it was the way that Beck, instead of accepting Tori's reasons for refusing him, had implied that Jade's feelings didn't deserve respect in the first place. Somehow, that was the part that stung most of all. And how, even though Jade had worked just as hard as Tori to prepare for the Platinum Music Awards, Jade still didn't deserve any glory in his eyes.

Frankly, after hearing Beck's little speech, Jade wasn't sure that she wanted to perform anyway. Inviting Tori to perform was simply a way to even the score, since Tori had turned down Beck. Jade didn't like owing people, and now she didn't owe anybody anything. _Especially_ not Beck. Sure, he'd smiled at her before the show, and she'd smiled back in a moment of weakness. But one smile didn't change the fact that he had essentially dragged Jade's name through the mud an hour before.

To be fair, it wasn't like Beck had always been a shining paragon of virtue when it came to defending Jade. He hadn't exactly defended her, for example, way back during sophomore year, when Sikowitz had called Jade a gank. Nor had he ever explicitly turned down the other girls who'd flirted with him. But the Beck she thought she'd known for the three years that they'd dated had, at least, cared about Jade's feelings. Something had changed him.

Something like Tori Vega.

Although Jade had always resented Tori Vega as the reason for her fall from grace, it had never been clearer just how true that belief actually wazs. Tori's arrival had been the turning point in Jade's relationship with Beck _and _in Jade's reign as queen of Hollywood Arts. It was Tori who had first kissed Beck, providing the first true challenge in an otherwise faithful relationship; Tori who had taken the lead of every play, musical, and movie, even though her voice was average at best and her acting pretty much sucked (because really, all of the parts that Tori got were basically Tori acting like herself anyway); Tori who had infiltrated Jade's friend group, and turned them all against her. Hell, Tori had nearly lost a movie role for Beck just because she couldn't keep her stupid mouth shut, not to mention ruining Jade's show with her stupid _Prome_.

And now, she'd stolen Jade's boyfriend. Not literally, of course; tonight's little scene proved that if nothing else. But just by inserting herself into their friend group, Tori stolen his affections. Even if they weren't actually together, the fact remained that Beck had turned against Jade, his girlfriend of three years, because of _Tori_.

And then Tori Vega, with her mediocre voice and good looks and cheerfully oblivious personality, won the spot at the Platinum Music Awards. If Tori hadn't entered, it would have been Jade who had won in the first place.

Jade punched her bed in frustration. She'd wished a million times for Tori to just go away, disappear as quickly as she'd appeared, so that things could go back to the way they'd been. But it was too late. No matter what, Tori Vega was here, and nothing—not Hollywood Arts, or Beck, or even Cat—would ever be the same as it had been before her arrival. It didn't matter that Jade and Tori were sorta-kinda friends, or that Tori, for whatever reason, constantly wanted Jade's approval. Without even realizing it, Tori Vega had singlehandedly transformed Jade's life from halfway decent to awful, an unforgiveable offense.

It was with these bitter thoughts swirling around her head that Jade brushed her teeth and removed her makeup in the bathroom. Carelessly puling on her pajama pants, she barely noticed the bright streaks of movement in the darkened sky, indicating that the meteor shower had started a few hours early. Normally, Jade loved meteors, but right now, she was too pissed off to care, so she simply wrenched her covers down and climbed into her bed.

"God, I wish freaking Tori Vega just didn't exist anymore!"

The words escaped her before she could stop them, and hearing them aloud only made Jade angrier. Still, there was no one to hear her, no one to care about the unfairness of it all. So, jerking the covers to her chin, Jade crawled into bed and attempted to sleep.

Little did she know that, for once, someone actually was listening.

**Reviews inspire faster updates! I'm actually really excited for this story, I have some parts completely planned out already, so hopefully when I write them out everything will fall into place. I've wanted to write this forever, practically since Christmas, but haven't been as inspired as I was watching Tori Goes Platinum.**


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